Fast and accurate real-time processing of data signals is desirable in general purpose digital signal processing, consumer electronics, industrial electronics, graphics and imaging, instrumentation, medical electronics, military electronics, communications and automotive electronics applications among others, to name a few broad technological areas. In general, video signal processing, such as real-time image processing of video signals, requires massive data handling and processing in a short time interval. Image processing is discussed by Davis et al. in Electronic Design, Oct. 31, 1984, pp. 207-218, and issues of Electronic Design for, Nov. 15, 1984, pp. 289-300, Nov. 29, 1984, pp. 257-266, Dec. 13, 1984, pp. 217-226, and Jan, 10, 1985, pp. 349-356.
A processing device particularly suitable for real-time processing of video signals is disclosed herein. The processing device in one embodiment comprises a linear array of 1024 1-bit parallel processing elements having a set of data input registers (DIR) and a set of data output registers (DOR). An incoming video signal is clocked into each processing element DIR during a horizontal line time and is thereafter transferred to a set of internal register files during a horizontal blanking period. In some data processing applications there is no available pause (e.g., horizontal blanking period) to stop processing and make the data transfer. An example situation is when the signal source is a video tape recorder output. The present disclosure describes and apparatus and method to allow continuous processing of signals.